Rising home prices have put a serious dent in the number of people who owe more than their house is worth in the Twin Cities and beyond. During the fourth quarter of last year 10.2 percent of all people with a mortgage were underwater, according to CoreLogic, a national real restate research firm. That's down from 16 percent last year, but up very slightly from the previous quarter.

Nationwide, nearly 6.5 million homes, or 13.3 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage, were still in negative equity territory at the end of last year.

Negative equity happens when house prices decline and/or when mortgage debt increases. Across the country,the national aggregate value of negative equity was $398.4 billion for fourth quarter 2013, compared to $401.3 billion for third quarter 2013, a decrease of $2.9 billion.

Here's Mark Fleming's, CoreLogic's chief economist, take on the situation: "The plight of the underwater borrower has improved dramatically since negative equity peaked in December 2009 when more than 12 million mortgaged homeowners were underwater," he said "Over the past four years, more than 5.5 million homeowners have regained equity, reducing their risk of foreclosure and unlocking pent-up supply in the housing market."